“This course will challenge you professionally and personally. After the first class you will swear they have been to your dealership. If you want to make changes to your dealership and to yourself personally, take this class.”

"Now I understand where the numbers come from for the equations, sure I knew what the bench marks were, and what percent we were at, but now I understand where the numbers come from to make up those percentages. I learned a lot from the Service Manager Course - we are now working everyday to improve our policies and procedures in the Service Department...”

Many owners fail to realize that merging two stores equals three stores in the end. Each store has their own communication and culture, even if they are only ten to fifteen miles apart. Combined, then with the new vision of the complex there is an entirely new culture.

You have acquired a new dealership location! Those months of negotiation, diligence, legal guidance, and documentation are behind you. As you move forward nothing is more important to ensure long-term success than the seamless integration of corporate cultures and business procedures.

This is the time of year when I purposely focus on goals for next year. I don’t wait until January 1 – by then, I’m behind the eight ball. Starting now provides two advantages – time to finish the essentials for this year and time to get ready to go starting January 1, right out of the gate.

And with no guarantee the four-year dry spell won’t stretch into a fifth or even sixth year, many area ag operators are cutting back on capital investments and choosing to idle or repair existing equipment.

“So many salespeople yield too quickly to the customer because they don’t want to lose a sale. It’s a fine line because you don’t want to argue with a customer,” says Dave Teigen, account manager and trainer for Jerkins Creative Consulting. “Many sales managers focus on the ‘home run’ rather than the ‘single or double.’ To increase revenue, they need to coach their people to be confident about putting a package together.”

Now that you have tapped all of the resources from your address book, Christmas card list, friends, family, distant cousins and former little league coaches, it's time to start using an innovative approach. This approach is broken into five steps that involve anticipating customer needs as well as keeping inventory updated so you are prepared to offer the very best value and in return you gain trust and return business.

The question has been asked multiple times over recent weeks about what should occur to improve performance in sluggish wholegood markets. Any answer to this inquiry must not only address the concern of performance in a sluggish market, but also must address ways to insure that this same concern does not arise in the future. We know that the equipment market is a roller coaster with its own ups and downs. History has told us time and again that a dealership that hangs its hat on wholegoods performance is often the first among dealerships to disappear when the roller coaster heads down. History also provides models of dealerships that survive. Now this is not a lesson on aftermarket absorption, but instead a lesson on gaining larger percent of customer wallet.

To generate more housing in Jackson, AGCO has joined with the city and two regional housing agencies on a plan to build 48 townhouse units on 7 acres of land near the industrial park that is dominated by the manufacturer’s sprawling campus.

The business of parts within the dealership has challenges that are forcing a change in mindset when it comes to management. Margin, which has been a long time focus for most managers, can no longer be an effective management tool. The reason is that the primary competition for a parts department today is the internet. This electronic nemesis has effectively placed a cap on margins that can be earned on any given part number because location is having less effect on current and future buying decisions.

James Watt, engineer inventor of the term "horsepower", calculated one horse can do 33,000 foot-pounds of work every minute. That is an arbitrary unit of measure that has made its way down through the centuries and now appears on your tractor and even something simple like electric screwdrivers. Online data however, travels close to the speed of light. That’s around 670 million MPH! Compare that to the speed a well-trained postal horse could run in the 1800s and that’s 33,480,000 faster! Imagine harnessing this speed to improve your customers’ experience with your dealership.

Imagine, if you will, a boxing ring with a fighter in each corner. Both fighters are well trained, well coached, and prepared for the battle. Their respective trainer in their corners giving them an earful of strategy on how to fight the opponent, doctors ready to address cuts and damage from the punching, and the motivators telling their respective fighter to keep on fighting and never give up.

Don’t wait to spend advertising dollars on used iron. With our mobile application for your dealership, you can notify customers of used equipment as it becomes available. Don’t wait for print advertising turn-around; notify your customers now!

App viewership success rate is over 97% when sending push notifications vs. an open rate of 5% - 10% when sending emails. Using our mobile app solution connects you to more customers than using email!

Key Account Management (KAM) is a new trend in farm equipment sales that changes the sales process within the dealership. It is a term that can encompass a variety of meanings with the dealership, the most important one being that the dealership moves from a one on one relationship between the sales person and the customer to one that incorporates all facets of your dealership organization. This is a dramatic change in philosophy and one that takes focused effort within management and then within the dealership personnel to succeed.

Winter is cold, messy and often uncomfortable. Not exactly busy season for a dealership. However, shifting the dealership routine from servicing equipment in Winter rather than Spring is both feasible and profitable.

The historical practice of discounting a product or service is an enticement to bring equipment in during the Winter. Even better than losing money by discounting, is simply making a service reminder call.

You’ve no doubt wondered how your prices compare to others in your market area. Everyone in the equipment dealership world does. You’ve probably called or had your people call neighboring dealers to test the market for labor rates.

Dealers should not wholly dictate their pricing policies based on what their competitors are doing. This is especially true if the dealer isn’t providing the same top level of professional service that you do.

As the industry continues to consolidate and make significant technological advances, aging Parts and Service people are leaving the dealership fold. Upon their exit they take with them their walking encyclopedia of knowledge and skill set.

“Sales and Service tech go to training, but sometimes it’s the Parts tech who is left out,” JCC Specialist Larry Cole said. “Often the least trained people in the dealership are the Parts Department.”

Check out the current agriculture equipment dealership market and business conditions. Knowing where the industry is at and what to expect in the future allows your team to plan for dealership stability. Use market condition surveys as part of your peer discussions and align your business to overcome and remain successful in times of uncertainty. Prepare your staff to take on the uncertain economic future through training programs to protect your dealership.

JCC Campus is the dealership’s or manufacturer’s way to become more profitable by providing educational opportunities to employees. Students learn to apply business principles to every facet of the equipment industry. The courses provide comprehensive training with a logical path. Each class builds on the one before creating accountability to ensure the students retain the knowledge and skills.

There are peer groups popping up all over. It’s like a new trend. Peer groups, also known as 20 groups, took root in the automobile world and today are showing up in every industry.

When JCC formed their version of a 20 group, known as North American Peer Group, the focus wasn’t simply bringing dealers into the fold. It was about selecting dealers who were progressive and prepared for the challenge.